School Tradition
by bloodscorpion4ever
Summary: An ordinary day at Ryoo High School suddenly turns deadly. A group of friends will soon learn the disturbing history of their high school and that one atrocity will only lead to another. *Remake of old fic "Bonds."
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

The previous winter had been quite an anomaly for Japan. As fast as it came in the previous year, the weather patterns took an ominous turn and a new front pushed the cold climate out to the ocean and rejuvenating warmth followed with it. As if the climate shift wasn't telling enough, the first nice day of the year just so happened to fall on the first day of spring. A Monday. A school day for the youth of Japan. The forecasters were calling for clear blue skies all day with no clouds and a warm sun to complement the celestial canvas. Even before the day started, the mood across Japan, more specifically the city of Saitama, was a feeling of freshness. The feeling one gets after stepping out of a hot relaxing shower squeaky clean. A feeling of new strength to usher in the warm seasons, almost like the feeling one gets at a New Year's celebration.

At the residence of two twin high school girls, New Year's celebrations were textbook routines every year so they knew the feelings that came with them. The oldest twin of Kagami Hiiragi was woken by her alarm clock and she stirred. She turned it off and stretched while yawning. Already, she could feel the welcoming embrace of the new season and she started off her spring with a smile. She shuffled past her sister's bedroom en route to the bathroom, where she heard Tsukasa's alarm clock beeping as well.

Kagami made a little wager with herself as she began to shower. She bet that by the time she had completed her hygiene routine that her sister would only then just be getting out of bed. Her process took roughly half an hour as she knew her mother was making her signature pancakes and didn't want to miss out. When Kagami's hair was dried and secured in their trademark pigtails and she donned her summer uniform for the first time of the year, she exited the bathroom and headed for the stairs, once again passing her sister's bedroom. Kagami was a little disappointed and slightly angry when she heard her sister's alarm clock was still beeping. One of these days, she was going to pry that damn snooze button off. She was sick of her sister's tales of a mysterious entity wafting into her room as she slumbered in a daunting and vindictive motivation to turn her alarm clock off in a petty yet conspiring spite. All Kagami did was sigh to herself as she entered her sister's room to take matters into her own hands.

For one esoteric girl with long blue hair, the feelings weren't mutual. After a long night of gaming after her teacher departed for the night, the only thing on her mind was more sleep and the buzzing of her incessant alarm clock only begged the day to hurry to the night once again. Konata Izumi groggily stretched her hand towards the clock on her nightstand opposite her bed and slapped around until her hand found purchase and stopped the beeping. Groaning with every crack in her body, she slowly sat up and briefly contemplated faking sick, but knew Miss Kuroi was already on to her for a similar stint last week. She shuffled downstairs, where she found her youthful cousin and father already eating breakfast.

Yutaka Kobayakawa greeted Konata with her usual cheery demeanor, though Konata's strength could only validate another groan, making the salmon-haired girl giggle again. The three ate their breakfast together and Yutaka wanted to wait for Konata, but was told to head out ahead of her as she didn't want to make her little cousin wait. When Yutaka left, the first thing she did was appreciate the surprisingly warm weather for such an early month. It felt more like the first day of summer as she neared the train station, where she would later meet Minami Iwasaki.

Across Saitama in a more upscale neighborhood, a pink-haired scholar with medical ambitions in her grit sat at her lavishing dining room table finishing her breakfast. Her mother sat with her and she worried about her daughter. Miyuki Takara wore a rather somber expression this morning despite the collective mood motivated by the weather. An anniversary that she wasn't too fond of was on this day. An anniversary that led to a divorce declaration and ensuing custody and prenuptial discourses between her mother and father.

"You okay, honey?" Yukari Takara asked, equally somber.

Miyuki sighed. "Yes, mother, it's just…that day."

Yukari nodded slowly. "I know this isn't your favorite day, honey. It brings back a lot of bad memories for me as well."

"I know, mother, and please don't misunderstand me. I'm not mad anymore. I was a child back then so I didn't understand what was happening. Now that I'm practically an adult, I understand why you did what you did. Father…he wasn't loyal to you as he vowed to you." Miyuki recollected.

The daughter could still see the trace amounts of hurt in her mother's eyes. The pain of infidelity was one that would never truly pack its bags and depart as easily as Miyuki's father did when he decided to have an affair with a close friend of Yukari Takara. The two women still felt their own subtle rage, but were still classy enough in themselves and mannerisms to act as the dignified ladies that they truly were.

"It still hurts, sure, but having you around makes it all better, honey." Yukari said with a smile.

Miyuki smiled. "Thanks mother. I believe I should be going now or I'll be late."

As she stood from her chair, a thought occurred to Yukari. "Oh, before you go, I have something for you."

Miyuki tilted her head. "Something for me?"

Yukari also stood from her chair and hurried into the hallway closet. When she returned, she held a brand new book in her hand. It was a hardcover book and rather thick and Miyuki's eyes lit up when she saw it.

"Is…is that…?"

"Yes. It's that book on medical theories you've had your eye on for some time." Yukari replied with a giggle.

Miyuki took the book and hugged her mother. "Thank you so much, mother. But why? It's not Christmas or my birthday."

Yukari shrugged. "Oh, no reason. A mother doesn't need a reason to give her daughter a gift. Only that she loves her."

Miyuki smiled at the book, knowing the truth. Yukari knew how Miyuki had been feeling about her father in recent days, especially with her high school graduation only a few months away. Hideki Takara had made it clear that he wasn't going to be there to see his only child graduate high school, as he had been absent from several of her previous birthdays and other events. This small token was just another reminder by her mother that no matter what, she would _always_ be there for her daughter. It made Miyuki smile and kiss her mother.

She packed the book in her schoolbag and planned to baptize it into her mental library on the way to school, as well as over lunch. As she walked through her neighborhood, the gloomy mood she was compelled by earlier abruptly lifted when she heard the songbirds singing their hearts out as a concerto for the beautiful day. Everything was bright and alive today and even Miyuki, on the anniversary of her parents' divorce, couldn't help but hum cheerfully along with the birds as she walked to the train station.

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"Look, it's Kona-chan! Hey, Kona-chan!" Tsukasa playfully beamed when she saw her blue-haired friend upon her arrival at the train station with her sister.

The blue-haired girl looked up, bags under her eyes hanging so low, she was practically dragging them on the ground. She gave a weak smile and waved.

"Oh for crying out loud, look at you." Kagami snapped and palmed her hips. "Up all night gaming again?"

"You know it, Kagamin. Live fast with no regrets. That's how I live my life." Konata weakly replied, making Tsukasa giggle.

Kagami rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Look, we graduate in only a few short months so you better get your act together before then."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. You're like rerun episodes of anime." Konata yawned.

Kagami's eyes twitched but she was able to ignore the comment as their train approached. The three girls stepped in and no sooner did Konata sit, her head fell back and she started snoring. A small canal of drool rolled down her cheek and Kagami felt a capillary twitch in her head while Tsukasa could only giggle again. The season may have been new, but old habits from the short otaku definitely weren't.

As the train left the station, it carried with it exactly seventy-two students that attended Ryoo High School, their grades ranging from first years to third years. However, it should've left the station with seventy-three. A first year student and a class president no less. The student was also quite a scholar and good student herself, though still no Miyuki Takara. At the beginning of the year, this student was well-known for her luxurious upbringing, similar to Miyuki's as well. A student who had one weakness that was also her secret passion. A passion that she couldn't let anyone know about. However, as cruel and sadistic as fate was at times, the stars aligned perfectly in this regard for her when that passion was discovered by the wrong people. Ever since that fateful day, it had become her own undoing.

Izumi Wakase arrived at the train station fifteen minutes after her ride left, a large black duffle bag in tow. Her shoes touched the ground, but she could neither feel nor hear the steps. She stopped feeling anything a long time ago. Her glassy eyes stared forward, but she saw nothing. Nothing, except a light that only she could see. A light at the end of a long and dismal tube of infinite blackness that destroyed her world. The supplies she had in her bag would only accelerate her arrival to that light that filled her with such delight, though not a delight as defined by mainstream psychology. A delight created by the knowledge that a long and arduous chore was soon about to conclude and that, at the end of said chore, Izumi Wakase would finally have fulfillment and finally be able to take a load off her battered soul.

She stood in her school uniform clutching the bag at the edge of the platform and waited for the next train to come. Her destination was still the same, though her time of arrival would be behind…just as she had planned. Weeks of planning, to be precise. Weeks of thinking, weeks of purchasing, weeks of practice, and finally, weeks of abuse. However, the past few weeks of abuse didn't even register anymore. It stopped registering months ago, but the laughs and the humiliations still lingered and echoed.

A small reservoir of tears rose in her left eye until enough filled and a single drop fell to the cement. She batted the rest away with a few blinks and smiled devilishly as the next train approached the station. Izumi Wakase held her hard smile, thinking she finally knew who she was and why she was put on this Earth. It was just a shame that it took the asunder of her whole world and the destruction of her innocence to tell her that.

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It was no secret that the general consensus of the Saitama population was that this day was perfect. However, if they were asked by pollsters if the picturesque and tranquil setting of Ryoo High School as students flocked to it was responsible, they would once again say yes. Any student could say what they wanted about school, but they all had to agree that today's spring day around the school complemented by its well sculpted landscaping deserved to be frozen in a postcard to sell at a kiosk. It was a scene of youth and of life; practically untainted by the darkness of the real world that lingered and waited for the graduating students like sharks in the waters.

Konata, Kagami, and Tsukasa arrived at the school ten minutes before the eight o'clock bell. The three friends split up when their respectful corridors arrived. Konata and Tsukasa walked to their classroom while Kagami navigated her way to Sakarabi's homeroom, not looking forward to her teacher's attitude that always came with a Monday morning regardless of the weather.

Kagami slid her classroom door open and saw her classmates conversing before the day would begin and she walked to her seat neighboring Misao Kusakabe's and not too far from Ayano Minegishi's chair.

The twin-tailed girl rolled her eyes when she saw Misao already asleep at her desk while Ayano was breaking school rules and playing with her cell phone, once again reminding Kagami of her own phenomena of attracting similar types of friends. She looked to her left and saw a boy that had caught her attention ever since the school year began.

Ever since the class trip to Kyoto and that chance encounter that Kagami thought she was about to experience her first love, the subject continued to pay her routine visits every time she saw this boy. She was still not like her twin sister, who believed in love at first sight, but still found him fascinating. Satoshi Kaneda just seemed to be his own person and that's what fascinated Kagami about him. Though he dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the boys, he always seemed to give off a sense of a higher class of student. He always made straight A's, his family was well-known in the community as his family had a long history with Ryoo High School.

Kagami even vaguely remembered a history project the class did about their roots in Saitama. Hers of course was regarding the family shrine and the Hiiragi's own contributions to Saitama within the spiritual realms. She remembered his was about his grandfather. His grandfather was actually one of the founders of Ryoo High School, but of course back then it was known as "Ryoo Institute of Academia," or simply RIA. It was a private school back in the day, only accepting the smartest students from the wealthier families, usually public dignitaries who scorned any culture that didn't have anything to do with the pursuit of knowledge. However, as time went on and societies evolved, the school eventually became mainstreamed and adopted its current title as a public but still upstanding education facility.

Satoshi seemed distracted today. He always had a bit of a snobbish attitude, but today it seemed like something was legitimately bothering him. He stared into space with a fallow expression, though it had hints of dread and possible fear about it. He tapped his fingers nervously and Kagami couldn't help but take notice of a gold ring on his right ring finger, though failed to notice the distinguishing symbol with the kanji abbreviating letters that, if translated to English, would read "HC." Kagami leaned over and asked him what was bothering him.

As Kagami conversed, Hiyori Tamura was having worries of her own as the final minutes ticked away to the start of the school day. She stared at her cell phone and reread the text message on her screen for the twenty-something time since she received it last night. It was from Izumi Wakase.

 _you were a friend to me when everyone was against me. You became one of my best friends and I thank you for that. Please don't come to school tomorrow._

Every attempt Hiyori made to reach Izumi was met with failure since she received it before she went to bed last night. All her texts were ignored and all her calls went to voicemail. Hiyori found it unusual and a little troubling. The text sent her mind back in time almost a year ago, to when she first really met Izumi Wakase in a rather unusual district. She never expected to have a chance encounter with her class president at Otome Road, much less be met with tears and a plea of silence that followed.

"How's it going, Hiyorin?" Patricia Martin's high-pitched voice asked as she leaned against her phone.

Hiyori closed her phone and pocketed it in her skirt. "Meh, same old same old. Got a strange text last night and I've been trying to figure it out. It's probably nothing. Hey, I gotta use the bathroom so if I'm not back in time, just tell the teacher where I'm at, would you?"

"You got it."

Hiyori stood and left the room, not noticing either Yutaka conversing with Minami in a rather cute and sketch-worthy way, nor the two other snobbish boys in her class also talking and were both very nervous. They also donned the same gold rings on their hands. One said to the other that they do have a reason to be concerned and that maybe they should pull back on someone. The other boy scorned his friend for "disloyalty" and "cowardice" for not "enforcing the integrity that RIA deserves."

Hiyori Tamura turned into the girl's lavatory and it wasn't a moment too soon. A small figure rounded the corner and missed her entering the bathroom. The figure was dressed in a black ensemble that included black combat boots, black cargo pants, a black wife beater, a tactical vest, and a bandana with "rise" written on it in kanji. Izumi Wakase felt neither shame nor fear as she walked towards her homeroom class, a pistol nestled in a holster on her hip and a loaded military style rifle in her arms, her finger snaking towards the trigger.

She turned and stepped into her classroom and no one noticed her. Minami Iwasaki would be the first one to see her, but she sounded no scream or warning of any kind. Instead, she reached across the desk and grabbed Yutaka and threw the frail girl and herself to the floor as Izumi Wakase took one step closer to her light as she raised the rifle.

The automatic pops of gunfire blended with blood-curling screams soon echoed all across Ryoo High School.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"You're right, Tsukasa-san. It is simply impossible to arrange a syntax that could accurately describe that repugnant odor." Miyuki Takara said with light chuckle.

"I know and the worst part is it gets even worse this time of year." Tsukasa added and the two girls shared another laugh.

It was eight o'clock and the bell began to chime. Miss Kuroi was early today, a rarity for her and something she credited to the nice weather. She finished organizing her papers and sat them down on her desk and leered at Konata, who was already starting to nod off again. The rest of the students took their seats and the day began.

"Okay class, today we're going to pick up where we left off on Friday with Japan's involvement in the Cold War." Miss Kuroi said.

Suddenly, rapid pops echoed in the hallway. They sounded like party poppers from far away and it confused the class. What followed was the repetitive clamoring of footsteps running past the door and cries. Everyone in Kuroi's class could see the zipping silhouettes of people sprinting past her door through the window.

"What the heck is going on out there? Some kind of party?" Kuroi speculated with annoyance as she walked to the door.

She opened it and was nearly plowed over by a mix of students running past her. The teacher tried to restore some order but the students were too panicked to stop and talk to her. When Kuroi saw a few students sprint past her with their summer uniforms caked in blood and crying, she knew something was wrong.

Stepping further into the hall when the students passed, she looked down the direction they were coming from. It happened so quick and so fast that no one saw it coming. At first, Kuroi was staring down a shorter student dressed in a strange wardrobe but before she could say something, a metal projectile soared through the air and entered her stomach with a violent thrust. The torque behind it was so powerful that it exited her back as easily as a knife through warm butter and everything went black for the teacher.

Her body collapsed to the ground when the gun cracked again and now Kuroi's class knew what was happening. Ryoo High School was now the subject of a school shooting. The class panicked instantly. Most of the students crowded to the back of the class like frightened animals while an avalanche of terrified cries echoed in the room. Tsukasa was undoubtedly the most freaked as she kept screaming and crying in the horde. Miyuki quickly hugged Tsukasa and tried to calm her as Konata tried to silence the classmates.

Three boys mustered the courage to step into the hallway and grab their teacher by her wrists and pull her into the classroom. Kuroi was already lying in a pool of blood and dragging her drew a haunting crimson streak across the tile floor, making the students scream louder. The boys then slammed the door shut and locked it.

Staring at her lifeless teacher filled Miyuki with an emotion she never felt before. Her current situation completely blanketed the somber thoughts she had about her father earlier. Now all her strife was reserved for her departed teacher as she slowly let go of the crying and trembling Tsukasa and stepped closer to Kuroi's body. Why she was approaching the corpse was beyond her and even the clapping of automatic gunfire faded when she saw the glazed eyes of Kuroi. She bent down to her and couldn't help but put her index and middle fingers to the teacher's neck, searching for a pulse. It unfortunately only confirmed what she already knew. Nanako Kuroi was dead.

Miyuki's eyes filled with tears and could only perform one more gesture. She gently cradled her teacher's hands and placed them one on top the other above her stomach and used her other hand to lower the dead's eyelids.

"Dude, we gotta get the hell out of her right now!" One of the students yelled.

"I hear that! Nothing's stopping that psycho from just shooting the door down!" Another proclaimed, making Tsukasa panic again.

"Hey, shut up already!" Konata hissed and hugged Tsukasa. "We have to keep our heads together if we're going to survive this."

"Izumi-san is right." Miyuki stated as she rejoined her classmates. "Panic is only going to make our situation worse. We have to remain calm and—"

"Shut up!" Another student yelled.

"You shut up!" Konata hissed again. "The shooter is going to hear us."

"The shooter already knows where we are! Kuroi's guts are spilled all over the place outside the damn door!" He retorted.

Tsukasa's face turned green and she fell to her knees and sobbed into her open palms. Miyuki rushed over and hugged Tsukasa. Konata rushed into the student's face. Despite her short stature, she wasn't afraid to show she meant business if someone was going to make her friend cry. Before a fight broke out, the PA system crackled.

"Attention, may I have your attention please? This is the principal." The voice said. "Attention, we have an active shooter within the school. Please, everyone remain calm. There is no need to panic. Police are on their way now. All students, please follow your teacher to the nearest exit in a calm, orderly fashion. If you are unable to get to an exit, lock yourself in your classroom and wait for help to arrive. That is all. Wait…oh—"

The announcement was cut off by more gunfire. It echoed from far away but students knew where it was. They heard it clap both from afar and from over the static of the PA. Though they spoke not a word, the students had a feeling they knew what was coming next. The static crackled again and a female voice reached every corner of the school.

"Attention Ryoo High School…this is the active shooter." The voice said calmly, making Konata's eyes go wide. She recognized the voice. "Today, the sins of this school will be called to atonement…and they will atone…and they will be purged away…in blood. _Veni, vidi vici!_ "

The PA went silent.

An ominous silence split the group. The gunfire and distant screaming resumed shortly after. It was more than enough to send Kuroi's class into anarchy. Believing their end was imminent, they all made a mad dash for the door and ripped it open and the mosh knocked Tsukasa, Miyuki, and Konata to the floor. As the students struggled to fit through the narrow doorframe, others picked up chairs and smashed windows. Braving both broken glass and a three story fall, some of the students jumped and landed in the fields of shards, cutting themselves and breaking bones on impact.

The rest of the crowd eventually forced their way out and they scattered into the hallway. Only Konata, Miyuki, and Tsukasa were left in Kuroi's class. Tsukasa still wept on the floor as Miyuki sat on her knees, still holding the crying shrine maiden. The gunfire clapped nearby again, making Tsukasa wince and cling tighter to Miyuki. Konata stood and turned back to Miyuki.

"What should we do?"

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Hiyori Tamura felt trapped, an in a very awkward setting no less. Still, she preferred the rickety lock on the bathroom stall door over being out in the open hallways as the gunfire continued to ravage the school. Her heart pounded and she panted with fright as she tried to keep herself quiet. Every pop from the rifle outside made her wince and she had to keep her mouth cupped to keep any sounds from escaping.

The text message finally made sense to her when she heard the daunting message on the PA system. Izumi Wakase was finally taking her revenge on Ryoo High School. As Hiyori tried her best to stay quiet and contemplate her next move, she suddenly felt a rush of guilt the likes of which that made her stomach churn her breakfast. She knew something was up with Izumi Wakase before this day, even before she received that text message.

Hiyori was also one of the firsthand witnesses to _why_ Izumi was doing this. This wasn't something that just came out of left field. This was a day that was in the works for almost a full school year. From the moment Izumi Wakase stepped foot in Ryoo High School with her secrets exposed to… _them_ …her fate was sealed. Not a day went by where she didn't hate her life and wanted the pain and misery and humiliation to stop yet there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. Worst of all, Hiyori Tamura had no choice but to sit on the sidelines and watch those animals burn her world to the ground. Despite all that, Hiyori still should've spoke up. She should've done more to help her, no matter what those animals said, threatened, or even did to her. People were now dying outside because she was too much of a coward to make a stand and speak up.

She could still see Izumi Wakase with heartbreaking eyes not too long ago. Eyes that pleaded and begged for help from her or anyone. Hiyori could still hear the sounds of her crying and screaming as the world coiled itself around her like a vilifying snake and squeeze without mercy. Her eyes shut, Hiyori tried to strangle back her own tears as the gunfire finally silenced.

She slowly opened them. Was it over? Hiyori knew this question was a fantasy when she could hear the sounds of heavy boots striking the floor. As the boots stepped closer, they kicked several empty bullet casings and the ringing they made as they rolled across the floor shivered Hiyori's body and sweat began to drip from her forehead. Izumi was heading for her bathroom. She quickly pulled her feet up and squatted on the toilet seat to stay hidden.

The door swung open and crashed against the wall, making Hiyori squeak, but Izumi didn't hear it. Hiyori remained confined within the four thin walls on each side of her and the abrupt silence made her more scared. Izumi was just standing in the open doorway. She stayed there for a few more seconds until the boots stepped again, once again making Hiyori flinch. She tried to control her panting through her cupped hand and nearly shrieked when Izumi passed her stall.

Izumi walked to one of the sinks and stood before it and stared at the mirror. She stared with dead eyes and she looked like some statue in an art museum from the little Hiyori could see between the cracks of the paneled walls. The moisture on her forehead flowed freely down her face now and over her suffocating hand, dripping to the floor. Izumi slowly untied her bandana with the kanji on it and turned the faucet on. She cupped her hands under the tepid water and splashed jets on her face. She repeated the process twice until she turned the faucet off and dried her face with a few paper towels. After she discarded the towels, she retied the bandana in her hair and turned to walk out.

Izumi made it to the door and Hiyori was ready to breathe a sigh of relief. The whole time Izumi was in the bathroom, Hiyori failed to notice how close her right foot was nearing the edge of the toilet seat. She suddenly realized it when it slipped and landed on the floor with a smack. She quickly hoisted it back up but it was too late. Izumi stopped dead in her tracks. More silence followed.

Hiyori's heart was pounding so fast that she feared Izumi would hear that next. Izumi quickly turned back into the bathroom and approached the first stall. Hiyori heard the click of the safety switch on the rifle and Izumi shouldered it. She raised her boot and kicked the first door open. It was empty. She sidestepped to the next one and repeated. It too was empty.

Time was running out for Hiyori. She was trapped and had no way of escape, but one final Hail Mary of an escape plan came to her. Ripping her phone out of her pocket, she scrolled to Izumi's number and keyed a text message as fast as her fingers would allow.

 _I'm at school..please stop this_

She sent it.

Hiyori held her breath as Izumi kicked in the second to last stall. Only her door remained unbroken. Izumi took one more step and stood only feet away from Hiyori, blocked by only half an inch of plastic. Looking at the floor, Hiyori watched Izumi lift her boot and ready to kick the door. She said her final prayers, sealed her eyes, and pictured her family and friends one more time.

A cell phone on the other side of the door chimed. Izumi froze. She stood motionless on the other side of the door for a few more seconds until her boot emerged at the bottom of the door and planted on the floor. Hiyori could hear her friend rummage through her pockets until she pulled out the phone. The panicking otaku could hear Izumi fiddling with it until she closed it, tucked it away in her pocket, and hurried out the door.

Hiyori suddenly felt the urge to use the bathroom again when the coast was clear and she exhaled in a blunt burst of deprived energy and emotion. She continued to quiver in unprecedented fear as she sat on the toilet and hugged herself tightly, still trying to keep the tears repressed. After a few more deep breaths, she realized she still needed to evacuate the school. She composed herself enough to exit the bathroom stall and approach the door.

Looking both ways as if she was crossing a street, she saw fields of death in every direction. Bodies littered the school, basting in their own puddles of crimson blood. Brass bullet casings glistened on the floor courtesy the fluorescent lights above them acting as their spotlights. School supplies and books were scattered in every direction and a few windows were shot out with glass shards glittering in the morning light. The sight made Hiyori feel woozy again, knowing that less than half an hour ago, these students were alive and ready to start school. Now, because of _them_ , they would never breathe again.

The sounds of echoing gunfire on a far side of the school prompted Hiyori to start moving again. She ran down the hallway, trying to keep her focus off the dead bodies and watching where she stepped at the same time. The nearest exit was past her classroom; ground zero of the shooting. As she approached the classroom, the meek and frightened sobs of a young girl caught her ear. They grew louder the closer Hiyori got to the classroom and it became obvious that there was still someone in there.

She slowly peeked around the corner and her pupils shrank to fine pinheads when she saw the carnage. The walls were splattered in blood, desks were overturn, papers and books littered the floor with more empty bullet casings, and the bodies. _So many bodies._ She looked around and didn't see Patricia Martin's body, but she did see Yutaka Kobayakawa sitting on the floor, her face holding her broken and crying face together. She appeared uninjured but the same couldn't be said for Minami Iwasaki when Hiyori entered.

The minty haired girl had been shot in the abdomen and was clutching a uniform top over her wound that still sapped the scarlet liquid. She had already lost a lot of blood and could no longer reassure Yutaka that she was fine. Yutaka stopped believing that lie a while ago.

"Yu…Yutaka…?" Hiyori squeaked as she placed her hand on the petite girl's shoulder.

She turned and looked up to her, her eyes spraying water with a flushed face and a stutter in her response, "Ta-Ta-Tam-Tamura…san…"

Hiyori glanced at Minami, who seemed happy to see her. Knowing Minami the way she did, Hiyori knew she wanted her to get Yutaka out of the school. Prying the petite girl away from her wounded friend was going to quite the chore though, even with the gunfire still sounding off in the hallway.

"Ta-Tamura-san…please…get Yutaka out." Minami uttered with bravery despite the burning pain in her stomach.

Hiyori nodded at her and was ready to turn her attention to Yutaka but paused when she saw two familiar faces (faces that now had two identical bullet holes in their foreheads). The two boys from her class that wore those infamous gold rings on their fingers with "HC" abbreviated in the center of its crest were on the floor, the back of their heads opened in a callous and brutal manner by two bullets each. Execution style.

"Wha-what happened here?" Hiyori stammered.

It took a little bit longer for Yutaka to calm herself enough to explain everything, but feeling Minami hold her hand gave her the strength she needed. Yutaka explained that Minami was a hero. She saw the shooter first and pulled Yutaka to the floor just as the bullets started flying. At first, the shooting was indiscriminate and the shooter targeted everyone, but paid heavy attention to the seats behind the two hiding girls until the two boys in question were mortally wounded. That was when Minami was wounded by a stray bullet covering Yutaka. Izumi lost most of her interest in the rest of the class by that point, allowing them to escape. When Izumi arrived over the two boys, they begged and pleaded for their lives and kept saying they were sorry to her. Izumi only said three words. _Veni, vedi, vici_. She then shot both of them at point blank range in the head and then left.

Hiyori gulped as this revelation reaffirmed that this was revenge. She shook the thoughts from her head and helped Yutaka to her feet. What was done was done and Hiyori couldn't stop what was going on. For now, all she could do was promise Minami that she would get Yutaka to safety. It took more prodding and assurance that Minami would be okay until Yutaka finally relinquished and let Hiyori take her away from the scene. With one final tip of her hat, Hiyori promised that she would tell police and paramedics where she was and that Yutaka would be safe.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Kagami Hiiragi's homeroom class was able to achieve minority status as they were one of the only groups of students who hadn't broken down into complete anarchy. They marched in a calm and disciplined formation led by Hikaru Sakuraba and approached one of the nearest exits. They heard police sirens approach the school and the gunfire died a while ago so they began to assume it was all over. For some of the snickering seniors, they innocently hoped they would be able to cash in on some possible camera time if they saw any news reporters outside.

Making a cameo on the evening news however wasn't exactly high on Kagami's priorities list. All she could think about was if her younger sister made it out of the school safely. She kept telling herself that between the two of them, Tsukasa was the one who was better off. She was with two of their best friends and Nanako Kuroi was an overall calm and collected teacher. For all she knew, her sister was having a panic attack outside wondering where she was, but at least she was safe.

She felt a nudge on her elbow and looked right to Misao Kusakabe vying for her attention. "Hey Hiiragi, you think your sister is safe?"

Kagami sighed. "I hope so. I mean, a shooter at Ryoo High School. Who would've thought?"

"Yes…who would've thought?"

The voice that answered Kagami's rhetorical question came from her left and she saw Satoshi Kaneda walking next to her. He still held his contemptuous expression and didn't seem to be afraid with what was happening at the school. Rather, he seemed annoyed that his day was interrupted by the event.

"You're…you're Kaneda-san, right?" Kagami asked.

He nodded. "That I am, Hiiragi."

"Yeah, I remember that your family is connected to this school or something. I'm sorry that this is happening here. I bet it makes you really upset." Kagami sighed.

Satoshi huffed. "It isn't really my school anymore."

Kagami squinted at the remark, not sure what to make of it. She slowly turned her head and looked forward and felt relief when she saw the exit not too far from where they were. First thing she planned to do was find her sister and then call their parents. Knowing them, they were probably in full-blown panic mode right now.

The students were only fifty feet from the exit and the welcoming daylight shined through the windows. Freedom was near. Kagami was one of the only students who heard a distinct set of footsteps heading their direction from the adjacent hallway that connected to their left. She narrowed her eyes at the hallway entrance as they neared the center of the T-junction. Whoever was approaching them definitely wasn't a student because these footsteps were too heavy for Ryoo High School's uniform approved shoes. These sounded like boots. Maybe it was a police officer.

A shorter figure suddenly rounded the corner and turned into the path of the Sakuraba and her students. Some of the students recognized the girl who cut them off while others didn't. Some were instantly able to process the black assault rifle she was slowly raising towards them while others couldn't. They were the first ones to day in another deafening spray of hot metal that tore through the front row of students.

Kagami, as quick and sharp as she was, was able to grab Misao Kusakabe (who also grabbed Ayano Minegishi) and Satoshi Kaneda and quickly do a 180 on their heels. The rest of the students were thrown into chaos and quickly joined the four fleeing students as they ran. As the shooting behind them continued, a tidal wave of panicked students washed in-between Kagami, Misao, Ayano, and Satoshi. It was like being stuck in a mosh pit at a rock concert where total anarchy ruled.

Another shot rang out behind Kagami and a student's head exploded not too far in front of her and she ran through the gruesome shower before she knew what had happened. She too screamed when she saw her blue and white uniform damped in blood and she lost her grip on Misao's hand. Misao and Ayano were washed away in the crowd as the students broke off into different groups who ran down different corridors to escape the shooting.

Satoshi Kaneda grabbed Kagami's wrist as her resolve began to falter and guided her down a dark and quiet hallway. It was just the two of them and the sounds of gunfire and screams grew fainter and fainter until there was silence. The two students panted for breath for a few seconds until Kagami realized fresh blood was still on her face. She stood up and stared at her hands and trembled. She was about ready to scream when Satoshi held out a handkerchief. It was made of a very fine fabric and Kagami tilted her head when she saw it had his moniker on the cloth.

"Th-thank you…" she said softly and took it. She wiped the blood off her face and debated whether on handing it back to him.

"It's fine, Hiiragi. I have plenty more like it at home." He said calmly, as if reading her mind.

She discarded the cloth. The two students looked around and before they said anything, they agreed with each other. They were in a part of the school that they had never been in before and had no idea where the nearest exit was. The gunfire soon resumed.

 **A/N: Starting with the next chapter, the story will begin its flashback arc and will alternate between that and the current story.**


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

 **SAITAMA, 1946**

Hiro Kaneda regarded his current setting with a more contemptuous manner but still held a public face for the newspaper reporters, as well as the American consul plus one American army general. They were all here to honor him and the groundbreaking ceremony for his new school. After years of preparation and hard work plus years of war that finally resulted in a new government, Ryoo Institute of Academia was ready to open its doors to Saitama's most prestigious and promising young intellects. Just knowing that his dream was soon finally going to come to fruition was just sweet enough to help Hiro Kaneda bear the American consul's speech regarding the opening of the school.

Though Hiro Kaneda was a man who, although supported his country during the war and described himself as a nationalist, the concept of knowledge and the very pursuit of it was what defined his whole world. Kaneda himself was slated to not only be the dean of his school, but a professor in theoretical physics. However, it was _just_ the academics he was excited to control in his school.

It would be the control.

When the war ended and the former empire that was once Imperial Japan was no more, Kaneda found the floodgates of a foreign and in his mind decadent culture that disgraced everything that was nationalist Japan. For the most part, what the western world was bringing into his country was sickening to him and Hiro Kaneda would eventually lament to his son, Akio Kaneda, that this new culture seemed to be the future for his country. The only thing that Hiro Kaneda seemed to have in common in any aspect of American culture was the story of the Alamo. He saw himself as a Japanese Jim Bowie defending his last stronghold against the enemy. Ryoo Institute of Academia was his Alamo, though he planned for it to have a more pleasant outcome than what awaited Jim Bowie and Davy Crocket at the ill-fated Texas mission.

"So without further ado, it is my distinct privilege to introduce the founder and dean of Ryoo Institute of Academia, Hiro Kaneda." The female American delegate said with a smile from her podium addressing the crowd of spectators.

Hiro Kaneda smiled widely, a gesture he had to practice in his bathroom mirror for a week straight in preparation for all the cameras, donors, and politicians attending the ceremony. He stood, shook hands, and bowed with the American delegate with his fake smile, and walked to the podium. He adjusted his tie one final time as the crowd applauded him and he gave them his faux smile.

"Thank you. Thank you very much." Kaneda said as the crowd clapped and the reporters readied their notepads and the flashes from the photographers' cameras blinked across the crowd. "And thank you, Mrs. Lambert, for that wonderful introduction."

The American delegate smiled back at him as Kaneda turned back to his audience.

"Thirty years ago, I was just a small boy whose favorite hobby was to lie on his back and star up at the starry night sky. I remember resting on a grassy hillside behind my parents' house where my mother kept our town's impressive sunflower garden and I would simply wonder. I wondered many things as I gazed upon those countless burning dots in the sky. I often wondered if they were the lights of Heaven itself shining through the tattered black sky. I also pondered if they were their own individual planets or even portholes to new and exciting realms where all the answers to life itself resided. It was from all those nights stargazing that I discovered my love for learning and what I could achieve with such a gift.

Education has always been the cornerstone of mankind's progress to greater and brighter horizons. Where would our human race be had Sir Isaac Newton simply ignored the apple that fell on his head and he had not been perked by the concept of gravity? I shudder to think how our modern science books would read if Nicolaus Copernicus had he succumbed to his critics and never pushed for his theory that the sun was the center of the universe. Above all, I cannot and will not even _begin_ to contemplate a contemporary society that had to live with the ramifications if Thomas Edison simply gave up when an experiment failed.

Through my own love of learning, I stand before you all here today as a man who has accomplished something that sadly not many of us can honestly say for ourselves. I have accomplished my lifelong dream of establishing an education and learning center for the next generation of scholars and intellects, who in turn can write their own stories and secure their own chapters in the chronicles of mankind. Thank you all for coming today, and as Julius Caesar once said, 'Veni, vedi vici.' Thank you again."

Hiro Kaneda stepped down from his podium and was met with great applause from the crowd. More flashes from cameras strobed across the crowd as reporters jotted in their notepads. Kaneda continued to wear his fake smile for the crowd and tried to hide his grimace when he had to hug Mrs. Lambert, though the American government agent was smiling sincerely when she embraced him.

After the ceremonial ribbon had been cut and the crowd disbanded, Hiro Kaneda sat alone in his office until the later hours of the day. He took a drag on his cigar and breathed out the gray cloud as he looked out his window. As acting dean of Ryoo Institute of Academia, he already envisioned the impressive amount of students that would grace his hallway and put his school on the map. He also smiled and took another celebratory drag on the cigar as he chuckled knowing that his school would only accept the brightest and richest students. Education was important to Hiro Kaneda, sure, but what he loved more than education was the money. The tuition money that would keep his pockets fat and the money that would secure him for the rest of his life.

There was simply no money in the public education. That's why he swore to himself that he would commit honorable suicide before he would let Ryoo Institute of Academia succumb to public paws.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

As the massacre at Ryoo High School continued, the first of many police cars arrived exactly ten minutes after the first shots rang out. News of the shooting was put on an APB to all available units to respond. An alert was issued to the Special Assault Team, requesting heavily armed agents and air support as per police request, indicating they were up against some pretty impressive weaponry. All of that would happen within one hour from now, after the massacre at Ryoo High School would end and the hallways, streets, and hospitals of Saitama would be flooded with blood, bodies, burning vehicles, a downed helicopter, and bullet casings.

For now, Officer Shinji was the first to arrive on the scene, his cruiser lights flashing and siren screaming. A relatively new face on the force, police work still proved to be difficult at times but it was still nothing he couldn't handle. A school shooting however was new turf. He stopped short of the school's front gate, radioed he had arrived, and exited his cruiser. Following his strict orders from the police chief, he unholstered his pistol, took up a firing position behind the cruiser, and aimed at the school as the automatic pops fired inside the school. He aimed and waited. He could hear the approaching sirens of other cruisers, where they would hopefully storm the school together and rescue the students trapped inside.

As he waited, he spotted a few groups of students rushing out of the school. Some were carrying wounded friends as they all cried and screamed for help. Officer Shinji gulped when he saw a young girl dragging another girl by her armpits, her stomach drenched in blood as her friend screamed at him for help. He remembered his orders to _not abandon his position under any circumstance._ Paramedics were also en route to the scene so it was his job to make sure it was secure and that the paramedics would be safe from the shooter.

Still, the cries from the wounded and frightened students made his stomach churn and he tried to fight his basic human instincts to help them. He heard a car come to a screeching halt behind him, though knew it wasn't a police cruiser because it arrived with no sirens or lights. He turned and saw a man get out of the driver's seat and a woman with long hair rushed from the passenger side, her eyes already drenched and she was sprinting towards him but was looking at the school.

Officer Shinji holstered his weapon as another police cruiser swung from around a street corner and made its final approach on the school. The woman collided with the officer as he held her back.

"Officer, please! My twin daughters are in that school!" She wailed as the rapid pops inside continued.

"Ma'am, please! This is not a safe area for you! You need to stay back!" Officer Shinji replied.

Her husband finally grabbed his wife. "Miki, please calm down! Officer, we were shopping and heard about the school. Do you know anything about our children? They're third year students named Kagami and Tsukasa Hiiragi."

Officer Shinji could tell the husband was panicking as well, but was keeping it bottled for his wife. It made the officer's insides tighten even more when he watched Tadao Hiiragi rip his wallet from his pocket and open it. He presented a picture of Kagami and Tsukasa together at New Years at the shrine to the officer, both showing innocent smiles.

"This is them. Kagami is the one with pigtails and Tsukasa has the short hair." Tadao said, though his hollow strength was beginning to crumble like drywall.

Officer Shinji had only arrived on the scene less than five minutes ago and didn't recognize the twins, but still felt empathy for the parents. He himself had recently married his fiancé and they were expecting their first child in six months. Still, he had a job to do and orders to follow as more cops arrived at the scene and Miki took notice that they were just standing beside their cruisers, guns drawn.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you and your wife to step back. This area has not yet been secured." Officer Shinji snapped, the words whipping the inside of his throat like barbed wire.

"Why aren't you helping them?!" Miki shrieked in horror when she saw the wounded and dying students on the grass in front of the school. "Those children are hurt and you're just standing here!"

Miki's maternal instincts took hold and she once again tried to brush past the officer, just as a jet of bullets tore through an upper floor level window and glass shards rained down to the pavement. Officer Shinji once again pushed the family back and thanked the gods when he saw the first ambulance arrive.

"You're letting them kill my babies!" Miki cried as Tadao had to restrain his wife. "How could you stand here and let this happen! You monster! You murderer!"

Officer Shinji was able to keep his professional manner, though the hysteric mother's words did cut deep. There was nothing he wanted to do more than to storm the schoolyard, even if it meant coming under fire from Izumi Wakase, and dragging all the students back himself. However, orders were orders, and the same laws applied to the police officers as if they were soldiers in the military. Disobey an order, and it would mean their jobs. As a soon to be father himself, Shinji couldn't allow it.

More civilians began to pile towards the school, some of them in similar situations as the Hiiragi parents. Thankfully for Shinji, more officers arrived to help with crowd control. The pops inside the school however continued without restraint or mercy and all the young officer could do was stare up at the school down the sight of his gun and wonder how bad the carnage was and how many students had already lost their lives.

Misao Kusakabe was drenched in sweat as she panted with all her might. She also struggled to keep herself from vomiting as she ran her handful of paper towels across the tile floor, trying to make quick work of a fresh blood trail leading towards a girl's lavatory. The thought of wiping away Ayano's crimson breadcrumb trail made her stomach heavy but it had to be done. The shooter was nearby as the echoes told her and Misao had to hide her friend.

She continued stepping back towards the lavatory door with the paper towels vanishing the blood until she bumped into the door. Opening it, she stepped inside and threw the towels into a trashcan. She heard her closest friend riving in agony. Misao quickly sprinted back to the last toilet stall and saw Ayano Minegishi was still resting on the floor holding her gunshot wound. The brown-haired girl was able to recall just as her class was about to make their escape, death itself rounded their corner and took some of their classmates with it. If it wasn't for Misao's quick athleticism, Ayano would've been one of the claimed. Izumi Wakase's shot entered through her right side and exited the front in the panic. It was a clean hit in and out and didn't rupture any organs or arteries, but that still didn't take away from the pain.

Misao once again washed her hands in the sink before taking more paper towels and returned to her friend. She had unbuttoned her friend's top and applied more pressure to the wound.

"How you holding up?" Misao whispered.

Ayano continued to breathe deeply and wince in pain. "I'm…I'm okay."

"You're going to make it, Aya-chan." Misao whispered again and wiped more blood away, starting to worry that she wouldn't be able to stop her friend's bleeding. "You're a tough girl. A lot tougher than anyone gives you credit for."

Ayano continued to pant, her breasts heaving heavily in their bra while her body continued to sweat. She looked up at Misao and could see panic in her eyes, though her voice would've suggested she was a professional nurse putting a Band-Aid on a crying child's skinned knee. She tried to smile but she was too tired.

"Me-Mi-chan." She cooed.

Misao looked up at her and smiled. "You haven't called me that for a while."

"Th…thank you."

"For what?"

"You…you saved my life back there." She whispered and held Misao's hand, stained in her own blood. "When we were getting shot at…others pushed each other down to get away. Friends we knew…turned on each other. You…you didn't. You grabbed me and carried me away. Thank you."

Misao quickly looked away as she felt the sting of a tear bubbling in her eye. "You're…you're my best friend, Aya-chan. I would _never_ leave you. Ever."

Ayano was finally able to form her smile. She nodded back to her.

The gunfire had ceased a while ago, but they still thought it was only another temporary calm. However, what startled the both of them wasn't the resuming gunfire, but a pair of repetitive footsteps getting louder and louder. Someone was running as fast as they could straight for their hideout.

Misao quickly shuffled into the stall with her friend and closed the door, though it wasn't going to do them any good. The bathroom floor was already clothed in Ayano's fresh and drying blood, as well as discarded paper towels caked in the dark crimson liquid. All they could do was hold on to each other and pray.

The lavatory door swung open and someone entered. The person then quickly closed the door behind them. Misao slowly opened her eyes and was intrigued that she only heard heavy breathing and a few sniffles from whoever was still at the door. She slowly inched her head under the door and saw a female student in uniform so she knew it wasn't the killer.

Misao opened the stall door, making the stranger jump and shriek. She looked out and saw Patricia Martin already holding up her arms in surrender. Her uniform was also dotted in old red spots and her face was crying. When she saw Misao though, it might as well have been Christmas morning for her.

"Oh thank god it's you! I got separated from my—" she began to wail.

"Hey shut the hell up!" Misao hissed, silencing Patty. "You want that killer to find us?! Aya-chan is hurt."

Patty stepped away from the door and approached the stall. When she peeped in and saw the bloody spew, she had to pull back and plug her mouth. Her face flushed a shade of green and it was all she could do to keep herself from vomiting in the bathroom.

"Grab more paper towels and help me stop her bleeding." Misao commanded.

Patty's face darkened in green and she was reluctant but was able to eventually push herself to help. As Patty helped wipe more blood away from Ayano's wound, Misao used her hands as a cup to collect water from the sink facet and allowed her friend to drink. As Misao and Patty finally stopped Ayano's bleeding, they struggled to both keep her conscious, as well as muster the strength to leave the bathroom and find help.

Satoshi Kaneda continued to regard the ongoing situation at Ryoo High School with a suspiciously low amount of devastation, as Kagami Hiiragi observed as she slowly followed him through the foreign hallway. The pitter patter of gunfire resumed again and Kagami could hear distant screams echo in the school, making her wince with every shot. Satoshi, however, never missed a beat. He just wore the same annoyed face.

All Kagami could do was think about her sister, as well as curse herself for being such a rule follower her whole life and leaving her cell phone in her locker. If anything, the opportunity to call her family and let them know she was okay would've brought her some easement. She blinked at Satoshi again as he kept a pace in front of her. They hadn't said one word to each other since he gave her his handkerchief to clean herself of the blood dots. Kagami didn't even know why she was following him. The only clear possibility that came to her was that maybe he would somehow lead her to Tsukasa.

"I hope your sister is okay." Satoshi finally said.

Kagami nearly jumped when he spoke. He didn't scream or shout at her, but the unexpected voice given their setting took her by surprise. If anything, Kagami breathed a massive sigh of relief that the ice between them had finally been broken.

"Uh…thank you. I hope so too." She replied. "Do…do you have any siblings that go here?"

He shook his head. "Only child…but I do have brothers that are here in this school. I'm worried about them too."

Kagami tilted her head at the strange paradox Satoshi revealed about himself. _An only child with brothers_. The twin-tailed Hiiragi took a few seconds to try and figure it out. The puzzle gave her something else to focus on and keep the daunting clap of distant gunfire at bay. As she pondered, a shiny glint caught Kagami's eye. Her attention was directed back to the ring on Satoshi's hand. Desperate to keep that uncomfortable silence at bay, she asked him about it.

"That's an interesting ring. Is it a family heirloom or something?" Kagami asked.

Satoshi held his right hand up and looked at the jewelry. "No. It…it's something everyone in our… _club_ …wears."

Every time she talked to him, it seemed he only gave her another riddle instead of an answer. It almost felt like talking to Konata. "Uh…a club?"

Satoshi took the ring off and presented it to Kagami. She was confused as to why he was so willing for her to see it, but not wanting to be rude, she slowly took it and held it to her face. It closely resembled a class ring in its design with the HC kanji on the top. Kagami was able to finally notice three English V's intertwining with each other like a Celtic knot on the right side and a foreign coat of arms was on the left side.

"What do the three V's mean?" Kagami asked.

"Veni, Vidi, Vici." Satoshi replied. "It's Latin phrase that means 'I came, I saw, I conquered' and it was used by Julius Caesar in Ancient Rome after his quick and decisive victory at the Battle of Zela in 47 BC."

"And the coat of arms on the other side?"

"The coat of arms of this school when it was still the private institute known as Ryoo Institute of Academia. When my father owned this school." Satoshi responded coldly.

Kagami looked up at him. "Your…your family actually owned the school?"

He nodded. "Long ago and far away."

Kagami hummed curiously. "That's…that's quite impressive. And the kanji on the top of the ring? It looks like an English 'H' and 'C.'"

Satoshi suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and Kagami nearly collided with him. He stood like a statue staring into the distance as if he was a deer trapped in a car's searing headlights. Kagami was about to clear her throat to ask him what was wrong, until he quickly spun and grabbed her with forceful vigor. She nearly shrieked if it wasn't for Satoshi's hand constricting around her mouth and he dragged her to a door. Kagami dropped his ring on the floor but Satoshi didn't care. He opened it and threw her and himself together into the tight janitor's closet and closed the door behind him.

He held the angry Kagami close, his mouth still silencing her until a figure came into view through the wooden vents of the door. Kagami held in her scream when she saw the shooter come into view and she too froze. The two students stood huddled together watching the shooter stop in front of the door and look at the floor. Kagami felt her heart slam in her chest and sweat formed across her head but Satoshi remained calm as Izumi Wakase slowly bent down and picked up Satoshi's ring.

The shooter held the ring to her face and observed it carefully. Izumi looked inside the ring, as if she was trying to find something engraved in it. When she found it, she narrowed her cold stare into an irate frown. She tucked the ring into her pocket and started to walk away.

"You can't hide from me forever, Satoshi Kaneda." Izumi growled as she rounded another corner and was gone.

Kagami's eyes went big and she glanced up at him, only to see him glaring at the shooter. She saw him mouth "bitch" at Izumi as she disappeared. When she was gone, Satoshi uncupped Kagami's mouth and opened the door. The two students stood in the hallway with two different facial expressions. Satoshi maintained an irritated countenance while Kagami's visage was one of both confusion and terror.

She looked up at Satoshi and her face already projected her questions to him. He saw what she wanted to ask him, but he merely turned and started walking away while stating, "We need to get out of here. She's heading for the freshman hall so we'll be safe until we get out here."

He pocketed his hands and kept walking. Kagami stood dumbfounded and glanced in both directions. She didn't like the idea that her only logical answer was to follow him instead of going towards Izumi Wakase. If she followed him, they would both be out of the school in a matter of minutes. Still, Kagami gulped as she followed him, knowing that the shooter knew his name and seemed to be looking for him.

Yutaka Kobayakawa was able to stop her crying as Hiyori Tamura led her to safety. The salmon-haired girl could only think about Minami and if she was okay. Showing the paramedics outside where Minami was topped Yutaka's list when they arrived to freedom. Yutaka didn't even care about the fact that one of her own classmates was responsible for all this death and chaos. All she wanted was to get help for her friend.

The two students came to a T-junction in their hallway and took the left corridor and both wanted to weep when they saw the bright sunlight shining through the glass doors of the exit. They also wanted to stop and hug each other when they saw the lights from the police cruisers and ambulances waiting outside.

Hiyori looked down and the sniffling but smiling Yutaka. "We're almost home, Yu-chan."

She looked up at her friend and smiled while sniffing again and wiping away a tear. The two friends started walking again. They only made it another ten feet when they were stopped.

"Freeze."

The voice was hostile and as cold as a blizzard, making them follow the action instantly. Both girls knew the voice and Yutaka started crying again as the stepping of combat boots approached them from behind. Hiyori tried to control her panicked breathing while holding Yutaka's hand tightly.

"Yutaka…don't run. Don't move at all. Let me handle this." Hiyori whispered, but the fear was clear in her voice.

Izumi Wakase stopped behind the two students and stared at them. Her psychological torture of the two girls was simple but still effective. Just simply stand behind them and let their fears of not being able to face her drive them to insanity. Hiyori tightened her grip on Yutaka's hand, knowing that Izumi wanted one or both of them to run. She would let them…at least for a while. Give them false hopes of escape and as soon as their hands would touch the doors, they would be gunned down.

Hiyori shrieked a bit when she felt the cold steel of the rifle barrel press into the back of her head.

"I told you not to show up today, Hiyorin." Izumi snarled coldly. "You were the only one I didn't want to see die today. I knew it was you in the bathroom earlier, and that's why I left. I decided to give you _one_ more chance to escape. Now, you've tried me for the last time."

Izumi moved her finger to the trigger and started to squeeze.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"No one is forcing you to do this, Izumi."

Izumi Wakase's finger suddenly stopped constricting the trigger, just as it was about to send the firing pin home. She slowly raised her head from her weapon though still kept it firmly burrowed in Hiyori's follicles. Hiyori still held tightly onto Yutaka's hand as the shorter girl continued to tremble and cry.

"Oh I beg to differ, Hiyorin." Izumi hissed. "You of all people should know why I'm doing all of this…and why I'm going to kill you, even though I still gave you the benefit of the doubt last night when I texted you."

Hiyori gulped. "You're right. I do know _why_ you're doing this, but still, no one is forcing you to do this."

Izumi still held her weapon against Hiyori's head. "Oh, really? Again, I have to disagree. You don't know what it's like. What it's like to lose absolute control of your life. To be humiliated to the degree that I was. For your own family to look at you like you are the biggest loser in the world. To always be looking over your shoulder and living in fear wondering what the next batch of hell has your name on it. Yes, Hiyorin, I believe I am being forced to do this today."

As the conversation dragged on, Yutaka became more and more stressed. She was starting to sweat and Hiyori could feel the warmth slowly drain from her hand, turning her appendage cold and clammy. Hiyori glanced and noticed she was becoming paler as well and was starting to struggle to keep her balance. No doubt the situation was taking a massive toll on her health and Hiyori knew Yutaka had to get out of the school _now_.

"Izumi, let's just talk for a minute but first, please let Yutaka go." Hiyori calmly said. "She's sickly and all of this is too much for her. Please just let her go and I'll stay here."

Izumi glanced at the salmon-haired girl and could tell she was getting ready to cry again. Though she didn't know much about Yutaka as a person, she did know that she was innocent and ignorant to her torment. However, that argument alone didn't exactly sway Izumi as everyone at Ryoo High School was a target today. Still, she lamented and decided (for a simpler time) to let Yutaka go. She ordered her to leave.

Yutaka looked up at Hiyori, her face still pale and a teary mess. "Tamura-san, no! Please stay with me!"

"It'll be okay, Yu-chan." Hiyori whispered calmly. "Go. Go to safety and get help for Iwasaki-san. I'll be fine, I promise."

Yutaka was still reluctant to leave Hiyori with the school shooter, but two things that helped persuade her was the reminder that Minami was hurt and needed help, and how calm Hiyori seemed to be. The fact that Hiyori knew the shooter better than she did gave her the extra strength she needed to find the muscles in her legs to help move her forward. She was slow at first, wondering if Izumi would go back on her word to let her go. A few more steps until Yutaka started running full speed. She didn't have to travel far until she pushed the doors of Ryoo High School open and disappeared into the bright sunny day and into safety.

Silence encased the two students still in the hallway until Izumi said: "I must admit, that was pretty courageous of you. Funny how you stuck up for her and defended _her_ …unlike some students you know."

Now that Yutaka was gone, Hiyori felt her emotions catch up to her and she felt her eyes sting in tears and her throat swell. Her knees buckled as the first tear slid down her face as she whimpered, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? That's it?"

Hiyori sniffed and slowly began to turn, knowing full well that Izumi could end her at any second. She took her movements slow and turned around to stare down the dark barrel of the rifle like it was some horrible peephole that led to death itself. Ironically, it wasn't the black abyss of the rifle barrel that made Hiyori tremble in fear. It was when she looked into her friend's eyes and saw nothing. The life and purity that was once Izumi Wakase was long gone, only to be replaced with the opaque and fallow slides of indifference. It was like looking at the painted eyes of a dress mannequin and it was clear Izumi wasn't feeling anything whenever she pulled the trigger of her weapon. She was the spitting image of yandere itself.

"At this point, that's all I have the right to say. I'm sorry, Izumi. I'm sorry that all of this has happened to you and that The Hunt Club drove you to this day. Most of all, I'm sorry for being a bad friend to you towards the end. The fact that I sat on the sidelines and let you weather all of that alone was nothing short of unforgiveable on my part. I'm sorry, Izumi Wakase. It was the same for me, too. Those animals…they forced Konata and I to sit on the sidelines and watched. If we tried to help you…what they would've done…it would've destroyed us. But don't think that neither I nor Konata sat up late at night crying over what was happening to you. "

Izumi still stared down the sights of her rifle at Hiyori, her eyes and face unchanging. She then blinked, proving that she wasn't an inanimate object, though Hiyori still didn't see any signs of life in her eyes.

"Turn around and get down on your knees."

Hiyori's pupils shrank to fine pinpricks and her own complexion bleached when she heard the command. It was true. No matter what she said or did, Izumi Wakase had been completely consumed by darkness. Begging and pleading wouldn't help anymore. Letting her tears fall liberally now, Hiyori turned around and slowly crouched to her knees. Through her watery vision, she looked at the bright day in front of her and remembered Yutaka was safe. She did her job in that regard and that was enough to bring some comfort and closure as Izumi Wakase lowered the rifle to Hiyori's head.

"Hiyori, there is one more thing you should know," Izumi said softly and with a surprising amount of tone in her voice. It was just pure enough to make Hiyori turn her head and look up at her friend. Her vision was only met with a black shape making violent contact across her face and an explosion of stars and pain ripped across her whole body, knocking her broken glasses off her face. Being smacked with the stock of the weapon was almost like taking a baseball bat to the head and Hiyori fell to the ground and her vision was getting dark.

Izumi slowly crouched down next to Hiyori as her head dripped blood and Hiyori fidgeted on the floor. She gently whispered, "There is a bomb inside this school and within the hour, it'll blow this whole _fucking_ place back to Hell. No more Ryoo High School, no more legacy of Ryoo Institute of Academia, and above all, _no…more…_ fucking… _Hunt Club!_ "

Izumi stood and turned away. The last thing Hiyori saw before her eyelids closed was the shrinking figure of her former friend getting smaller and smaller until the ocean of black swallowed Hiyori.

Konata Izumi grunted and groaned from the heavy burden she was sharing with Miyuki Takara, but they carried Miss Kuroi's desk closer to the classroom door to join the rest of the articles in the makeshift barricade against the door. The desk was going to be the last thing, joining a few student desks and chairs, and bookshelves. At last, they finally pushed it against the rest of the barricade and it was clear to them that only a tank would be able to get through their wall.

Tsukasa was still trying to regain her composure in the midst of the attack on her school. She sat in the back of the classroom surrounded by a few empty desks and hugging herself tightly. The shooting suddenly commenced again after a long pause and Tsukasa started rocking faster and whimpering.

Miyuki scurried over to Tsukasa and sat down next to her and hugged her tightly. She glanced at Konata, who was still eyeing the structure they had built and trying to thoroughly analyze its integrity against an active shooter. Miyuki gulped and she wondered if she, as their _de facto_ leader, made the right call in deciding to listen to their ill-fated principal's words and hunker down in their classroom. No doubt some students were already out of the school and safe, but she kept telling herself that if they rolled the dice and panicked with their fellow students and ran into the hallway to escape, it would've been quite literally a game of Russian roulette. Besides, she remembered a few things from her initial pre-med textbooks she had been reading in her spare time and they all same the said thing. Panic always led to dire consequences. She took a deep breath and accepted that she had made the right call.

Konata returned and sat down with her and Tsukasa. She quietly reported, "Well, that should hold it. If we stay quiet and wait for help, then we won't have to hold our breath if that shooter comes knocking."

Miyuki nodded.

"Hey Miyuki, you wouldn't happen to have your cell phone on you, would you?" Konata asked.

Miyuki shook her head. "No, it's in my locker."

Tsukasa looked up and her eyes filled again. "Darn it, mine is too."

Konata groaned. "Great, mine is on my desk at home."

The three girls fell silent again. Occasionally there would be a few more pops further away from them, though Tsukasa would still wince with every crack. A few distant screams also didn't help. As they sat huddled in their corner, a very loud and intrusive sound cracked the sky above the school. The repetitive chops of a helicopter's blade cut above them and it was low. It made a quick pass and it faded.

"That must be a news helicopter." Miyuki whispered. "I believe that we're all unfortunately being broadcasted around the world right now."

Konata slowly nodded with a lament, "It isn't everyday this kind of thing happens, especially in Japan."

Tsukasa sniffled and slowly looked up. "I…I hope…I hope that Kagami…is safe."

"I'm sure she's fine, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki cooed. "Your sister is very brave and has always been able to take care of herself."

Konata tried to make light of the situation. "Yeah, if anything, Kagamin's already taken full control over the situation outside with survivors. She's probably even carried a few to safety herself."

Tsukasa smiled a bit at the attempt, but she wasn't entirely naïve. She knew her twin sister better than anyone and knew that, if Kagami hadn't made it out already, she was probably wandering the school now looking for her. That was something that Tsukasa feared. She wanted her sister to be safe. She also wanted to let her family know that she was safe as well. The thought of her own mother having to watch the school from afar as all this was going on tore at Tsukasa's innards and she felt sick.

They winced again when another burst of fire erupted, only closer this time. No screams either before or after the shots.

Konata slowly turned her head back towards the barricaded door and regarded it with sorrowful eyes. Flinching again and breathing a bit deeper with another clap of hostile fire, she remembered the voice that took control of the intercom after the principal met an apparent grisly end. Konata squinted, afraid to admit it, but reality left her no choice. Izumi Wakase was shooting up Ryoo High School. As the shooting continued though, Konata pulled herself tighter. She knew why this was happening…and all she could do was curse Satoshi Kaneda's name. She also cursed her own name for giving in to their threats and intimidations and allowing herself to sit idly by and watch a friend suffer.

Miyuki looked at the blue-haired girl with a concerned expression, the sorrow on Konata's face easily visible but not for the ongoing tragedy. Konata's face wasn't like Tsukasa's, where she continued to tremble and wince every time another pop sounded in the school. It was the look of someone who was bearing a heavy burden; one that they had a role in.

"Konata-san…are you okay?" Miyuki gently asked while still holding Tsukasa tightly.

Konata glanced at her before looking away again. She slowly shook her head. "You know how I always made my quips about you being moe and stuff?"

Miyuki nodded.

"I wish I was like you sometimes, Miyuki, and not just for your impressive physical features. More for your sense of innocence in the world. There are terrible secrets about this school and even more terrible secrets about some of the students." Konata sighed. "Today, I figure is the day that the chickens of Ryoo Institute of Academia are finally coming home to roost."

Miyuki tilted her head again. "Ryoo Institute of Academia? You mean what this school used to be before they changed it from the famous private academy to a public high school?"

Another rapid series of pops erupted.

Konata nodded and pulled herself tighter into a ball. She muttered: "We should've never gave in to their demands. But there was no where we could go to. Hell, they even had the cops on their payroll."

It seemed to Miyuki that Konata was just spouting gibberish. "What are you talking about, Konata-san?"

Konata looked up. "The Hunt Club."

Kagami was smiling from ear to ear as she and Satoshi made their final approach to the exit. Within a few minutes, she would be free and able to hug her parents and sisters again. She looked forward to Tsukasa's embrace the most. The twin-tailed Hiiragi could already see her little sister's face, probably already buried in their mother's bosom and weeping. Knowing that she would be able to hold her sister again was just enough to offset the tragedy around her and as she and Satoshi approached the exit, they began to hear a strange clamor as they neared the storage lockers where the students replaced their shoes every morning.

It was a strange and intrusive avalanche of assaulting chimes that was able to compete with the distant rifle pops in abhorrence. It wasn't until Kagami and Satoshi rounded the corner and saw the lockers that it finally clicked what they were hearing and it broke Kagami's heart. Within the thin walls of each locker, each student's cell phone was ringing nonstop. No doubt they were hearing the desperate phone calls of parents trying in vain to reach their children. Satoshi regarded the sight with indifference, his hands still pocketed.

Kagami saw one of the windows was shot out and as they got closer, she cringed at the sight of fresh blood on the broken glass. She froze, greened in color, and turned to gag when she saw a student's body facing down in a pool of blood, two exit wounds in his back still leaking. Kagami felt her eyes sting in tears when she looked again and saw the dead student's phone ringing in his cold, dead hand. The glowing screen told the world his mother was calling him.

"Let's go." Satoshi said coldly.

Kagami followed until she passed her own locker. At just the right moment, her ringtone sang to her and its melody halted her. Being the stoic student that she was, she remembered that she was always a rule follower and left her cell phone in her locker during school hours. She dashed over to it quickly unscrambled the combination and ripped the door open. Miki was calling her and the screen told her she already had twenty missed calls from her.

"Hello?! Mom?!" Kagami exclaimed when she answered the phone.

Outside, Miki could barely hear Kagami's voice over the screaming police and ambulance sirens, as well as the chopping of the helicopter's blades above her. The news van circus had arrived a few seconds ago, only adding to the scene of pure chaos outside. Still, being the mother that she was, Miki would still hear and recognize her own daughter's voice, even if Kagami was on Earth and Miki was trapped on the moon.

"Kagami?! Oh thank the gods you're okay! Where are you?!" She belted as Tadao put his ear to the phone as well.

"I'm at the lockers with another student and we're about to walk out right now." Kagami replied, ready to cry from hearing her mother's voice. "How's Tsukasa? Let me talk to her."

As fast as Miki's heart relaxed, it once again found its way back into a vice. She gargled on her words until she mustered, "She…she's not with you?!"

Kagami's heart was now synchronized to her mother's. "No! I thought she made it out!"

"I've been calling her cell nonstop and she won't pick up either!" Miki wailed.

As Kagami nearly dropped her phone, another fact dawned on her. She glanced at the clock above the exit doors and calculated the shooting had been going on for roughly twenty minutes already. She could see the police cars and police officers outside, the latter standing behind their cars with guns drawn at the school as if they were expecting a shootout or for the suspect to flee. This wasn't a gun battle between two militaries; what was happening at Ryoo High School was a calculated and systematic execution of students. Why weren't they storming in and rescuing students? Why were the paramedics standing by as well, only helping the students who were able to make it to them on their own strength? None of this made any sense.

"Mom, why isn't anyone coming to help us?" Kagami calmly asked.

Miki was still trying to absorb the fact that Tsukasa was still trapped inside the school until she was able to answer. "I…I don't know, honey. We keep asking and them but they won't tell us anything. They're only telling us they have to secure the area."

Kagami squinted at such fallow logic. For whatever reason, something was keeping the police from helping them and it appeared they were on their own. To make matters worse, Tsukasa was still somewhere in the school. Kagami thought that she had to still be in Kuroi's class with Konata and Miyuki. As two of her closest friends, Kagami had faith that they were protecting her. Another pop rattled nearby. The shooter was getting closer again.

Satoshi glared at the direction the shot ran out from and turned away. He had had enough and was ready to put this bullshit behind him, though still quietly mourned the ones Izumi Wakase already took for him and prayed the others made it out. Either way, the ugliness of his club was going to come to light today.

"I can't leave the school yet."

Hearing that made Satoshi turn with a bewildered look directed at Kagami. She had a new look of determination, now hell-bent on finding Tsukasa herself. Satoshi could hear Miki and Tadao's starch objections from both the distance and over the rapid fire of the approaching gunfire. They were begging Kagami to just walk out of the school. Kagami however wouldn't hear of it. Satoshi regarded Kagami strangely when she bravely told her parents that she loved them both very much and that she promised to bring Tsukasa home no matter the cost. She then hung up the phone.

"You can't be serious." Satoshi said as Kagami turned away and readied to sprint back the direction they came.

"You're damn right I'm serious!" Kagami exclaimed, not caring about Izumi Wakase's approach. "You told me yourself you're an only child and you may have friends that you're close with that you call 'brothers,' but having an _actual_ sibling is something new entirely. My sister needs me and I will protect her!"

Kagami sprinted around the corner, her pigtails sailing on the wind, until she was out of sight. Satoshi still stood there, dumbfounded. He squinted at the empty corner and then turned his head to look at the imminent rescue outside. All he had to do was walk through the door.

"Goddammit…"


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

"Okay, good. We got the bleeding to stop." Misao Kusakabe observed as Ayano Minegishi still rested on the tile floor of the girl's bathroom. "Think you can stand up?"

Patty gulped as she looked at Ayano's pasty body. Misao had ripped Ayano's top off from the bullet hole and used it as gauze to stop the bleeding after all the paper towels failed to control the wound. Ayano rested in a drying pool of her blood, her bra keeping her decent and she was clearly weak and frail from the wound as her pale complexion, slow breathing, and tired eyes told. Patty rushed another handful of water over to Ayano and let her sip from her cupped hands. When Ayano heard Misao's question, she only grunted in agony.

"She's lost too much blood. She needs to keep resting." Patty observed quietly.

A dozen automatic pops echoed nearby, making Misao and Patty turn to look at the locked door. They held their breath and waited for anything else to happen. Since Patty ran into Misao and Ayano in the bathroom, they heard the gunshots from very far away and right outside the door. They were occasionally followed up with panicked footsteps and cries fleeing the shooting but none of them ever tried to enter the bathroom, which they were grateful for. The last thing they wanted was to deal with more panicked students while they were trying to help Ayano.

"But we can't stay here either. We've been lucky so far but that luck is eventually going to run out." Misao whispered back. "We have to get her out of here and find help."

"Shouldn't we wait for the police?" Patty's voice quivered, not wanting to leave the sanctuary.

Misao shook her head. "We've been waiting for the cops for almost half an hour and they're still not here. Something's going on out there that we don't know about so that means it's up to us to get out of here. I mean look at her."

"But we got the bleeding to stop." Patty whispered back, her stomach dropping from feeling the dried blood on her hands. "If we try to move her now, it could—"

"She's lost too much blood already. If we stay here and wait with our thumbs up our asses, we might lose her." Misao countered harshly, her voice trailing off towards the end.

Patty gulped and turned back to the door. She looked back at Misao. "Bu…but…"

"I know you're scared and I am too, but Aya-chan needs help and I have to get her to it. If you want to stay here and hide that's your beef, but I'm taking my friend home." Misao finished.

She turned and went back to Ayano. Kneeling down to her, she whispered more reassuring words to her friend and it was clear to Patty that she was going to have to make a choice. She watched Misao gently help Ayano to her feet, making sure the uniform top didn't come undone in the movements. Patty was scared to death of leaving the bathroom, but as Misao and Ayano limped past her, the last push she needed to leave with them was the reality that she would be left alone. Quickly, she grabbed Ayano's other arm and hoisted it over her shoulder and assisted in carrying her.

Misao slowly unlocked the bathroom door and opened the door while sweat trickled down both her and Patty's heads. The door slowly creaked open, its rickety sounds making the girls grind their teeth under the hauntingly quiet setting. Only the faint cries of wounded and dying students from afar along with the distant wails of police and ambulance sirens could be heard. Even the shooter's weapon had quieted down for the moment.

They inched out and each girl peered down each direction. The coast was clear in both directions, minus the dead bodies of their fellow students, scattered school supplies, and empty bullet casings littering the hallway. Misao gestured to Patty to follow her, which she did. The golden-haired girl helped carry Ayano out of the bathroom and the two girls carried their friend down the hallway, careful to not make any more noise than they had to. The two girls had to watch their feet and occasionally sidestep books, bullet casings, bodies, and broken glass from windows and doors.

The hardest thing for Patty was to disregard the other students as they laid wounded on the floor and begged for help as they passed. Patty recognized a few students from different classes as they held their bleeding abdomens and tried to crawl to safety as the trail of blood following them showed.

As Misao panted, her eyes glanced down at a student whom she recognized. She had to give the dead female student a quick second glance as a bullet to her forehead parted her face in two different directions but there was still no mistaking her. Misao couldn't recollect her name, but the gold ring on her finger with "HC" on the top told her who she was and what merited her death. Misao recalled there weren't a lot of females in The Hunt Club, but the ones that were a part of that abhorrent organization were just as brutal and sadistic as the boys.

When Misao saw the body and how it was murdered, it suddenly dawned on her. She knew who was doing the shooting and why. Their chickens had finally come home to roost and she gulped, thinking she may have been on Izumi Wakase's hit list, despite Misao's best efforts to shut their club down after she had turned down their offer for her to join them. Izumi wasn't the only student they tried to break for crossing them after all.

As Misao ran, she wondered if she would come across the body of Saya Kaneda. If there was one person in this school that the Izumi Wakase, it would be her; though topping her list would probably be her brother, Satoshi Kaneda.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Miki Hiiragi continued to redial Kagami's number over and over again, only for it to keep ringing until it went to voicemail. She had already left two angry messages for her daughter to get out of the school but it was clear even to her that they would remain unheeded. By now, the entire setting outside Ryoo High School was a circus on steroids. Roads surrounding the school were closed off, police and news helicopters circled the school, police officers were struggling to keep the ever-growing crowd of frightened parents back, and the paramedics and officers were still awaiting orders to help.

"This is insanity!" Tadao bellowed at another officer keeping him and the other parents behind a police barrier. "It's been half an hour and you're still not helping our children!"

"Sir, step back!" The officer ordered.

Tadao couldn't hear him under the tidal waves of other parents screaming at the police to do something or let them through to find their kids. The crowd was becoming unruly and the police already threatened to use pepper spray on some if they didn't step back. When Tadao saw the policeman unsheathe his pepper spray again, he backed away. He wasn't going to be doing his wife any favors if he was sprayed and/or arrested for disorderly conduct. He regrouped with Miki, who was crying again.

"She was so close!" Miki yelled as she hung up her phone again. "Why wouldn't she just get out of the damn school?!"

Tadao gulped and pulled Miki close and she instinctively buried her face in his chest. "I hate to say it…but I think Kagami may be Tsukasa's only chance of getting out. The police aren't doing anything and it looks like it's going to stay that way."

She continued to sob into her husband's chest. Tadao pulled her tighter. The word "mom" echoed over the crowd. It was a word that Miki had heard numerous times since she arrived at the crime scene. She heard it screamed from wounded and dying students as they were carried away by paramedics, from students who made it out of the school in one piece and found their mothers, and even from other children joining their parents in the crowd where their siblings went to Ryoo High School.

However, when Miki heard the word this time, her motherly instincts percolated and she recognized the voice, even over the roaring sea of other voices. She quickly jolted her head up and looked at the crowd, where she saw Inori and Matsuri pushing and shoving their way through the crowd. Miki's eyes flooded again as she opened her arms and let her two oldest daughters hug her.

"I told you to stay at the shrine, Inori." Tadao scolded and turned to Matsuri, looking up at him as she hugged her mother. "And you, young lady, shouldn't you be in class right now?"

Matsuri let go of her mother and stood tall. "You think I'd be able to concentrate on school knowing _this_ was happening? I had to come."

Tadao couldn't argue with either of his daughters' loyalty to each other so he too embraced them.

Even though Yutaka Kobayakawa made it to safety, she couldn't stop crying. Though she sat on the sidewalk with a few paramedics who kept trying to calm her down, it was no use. The only thing she was adamant about was that the paramedics go into the school to find her two friends, both of whom she was convinced were dead. A thin sliver of hope still remained for her. She kept telling herself that Minami Iwasaki was still alive when Hiyori took her away, and Yutaka didn't remember hearing a single gunshot after Hiyori forced her to leave and she stayed with the shooter.

"Yutaka…!" A voice called from the crowd.

She looked up and started crying again when Sojiro Izumi and Yui Narumi came rushing up to her. Yui was donning her police uniform while her uncle wore mismatched clothes, probably thrown on in a rush to get to the school. Yutaka quickly ran to them and leapt into her sister's open arms and wailed. She cried while trying to push out that Minami and Hiyori were still inside the school.

He wanted to give his niece room to breathe, but Sojiro's fatherly instincts took over. "Yu-chan, have you heard from Konata?! Do you know where she is?!"

When her uncle asked this, Konata's face flashed in Yutaka's mind and it only caused her meltdown to intensify. It gave Sojiro all the evidence he needed to know that his one and only child was still stuck in the school with the killer as the gunshots resumed.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

"And that's why all of this is happening." Konata finished her long speech on the secret biography of Ryoo High School. Still curled in a ball, she slowly lowered her face into her knees and sighed.

Konata didn't want to look at either Miyuki or Tsukasa. She could see their faces anyway. Both were staring at Konata with faces as pallid as they were when they watched Kuroi fall to her death. Tsukasa wore a slightly green tint in her cheeks as she trembled after Konata finished bringing the ugly truth of The Hunt Club and its history in Ryoo High School.

"Ka…Konata…is all of that true?" Miyuki whimpered.

She slowly nodded, still keeping her face hidden. "As is everything that was done to Izumi. That's why she's doing this…and everything I said about us not being able to help her...all of that is true, too."

"That…that's horrible." Miyuki said with anger, though her naturally feminine voice didn't make it convincing. "Those… _animals._ I never knew such a horrible thing existed in this school. And all for what? Because a school was changed from a private institution to a public school? That's just putrid."

Konata didn't know what that last word meant, but she still agreed with Miyuki's assessment of the situation nonetheless. "Poor Izumi…she didn't stand a chance against them. Everything she tried to stop them, hell, everything _we_ tried to do to stop them…they were always one step ahead of us. All we could do was sit back on the sideline and watch her humiliation go on."

"I…I remember a few of those incidents in school." Tsukasa recollected. "I remember when she fell in the cafeteria at lunch time and everyone was laughing at her. I didn't know she was tripped though. I also remember when a locker was filled with manure…but I didn't know it was hers."

Konata nodded. "To say she was bullied would be an understatement. Her life was completely destroyed by them."

"And I know that girl, too. I know them both actually. Satoshi and Saya Kaneda. They're in our grade and they're both on the distinguished honor roll list and are very prestigious students. They even live in the same neighborhood I do." Miyuki noted. "I've talked to Satoshi and ate lunch with his sister a few times. I never once thought they were at the top of such an abhorrent organization."

Once again, Konata couldn't comprehend Miyuki's advanced vocabulary, but she was able to understand where she was coming from. No one suspected the upscale and distinguished sibling pair of Satoshi and Saya Kaneda to be so cruel and sadistic, but that always worked in their favor. That's how they always got away with it. Their records, their public demeanor, and especially their money. Everything about them screamed upstanding citizens. It was no surprise when Izumi Wakase tried to stop her torment, no one believed her when she said who was responsible.

Yet it was true. It was always true. Satoshi and Saya Kaneda were the grandchildren of Hiro Kaneda, the original dean of Ryoo Institute of Academia. Born and raised in the same ultra conservative household as their father, the only thing they ever knew was the drive for higher education and a lifestyle that demanded the strictest of standards and disciplines. Raised to believe that alternative lifestyles and cultures were a threat to them, they weren't prepared to grace the hallways of the school their family once owned and see what public education was like. To see clubs exist that had nothing to do with education baffled them, and it enraged them. Especially students who favored an otaku lifestyle. That was a lifestyle they especially despised.

When Satoshi was a freshman in the school his family once owned and saw what it had become, he had to do something. The very reputation of his family was being soiled by the existence of these… _otakus_ …and he couldn't sit idly by and make a mockery of his family's legacy with their esoteric and bizarre hobbies and personas. As far as he was concerned, anyone who didn't dedicate themselves to the pursuit of knowledge was unfit to even breathe the air they all shared.

When Satoshi's earliest memories consisted of his father lamenting how the times were changing and how that his family was a dying breed, it was all the motivation he ever needed to vow to one day take drastic measures. The gears in his head started to turn and he began to equate that if the otakus and other bizarre cliques were gone, Ryoo High School one day might return to becoming Ryoo Institute of Academia. An idea for a malicious and dangerous group sparked in his mind and along with his sister, they started to make a plan.

A rapid series of pops rattled through the school and the floor shook. Izumi Wakase was right outside the classroom and the three girls huddled together. Konata gulped and briefly considered taking down the barrier and trying to reason with Izumi Wakase in the hope of talking her down. The shooting silenced and to their horror, the door began to shake. Someone was trying to open it and Miyuki pulled Tsukasa closer as her eyes leaked.


End file.
